also spelled SUNDJATA, also called MARI DIATA, OR MARI JATA, West African
monarch who founded the western Sudanese empire of Mali. During his reign
he established the territorial base of the empire and laid the foundations
for its future prosperity and political unity.

Sundiata was a Mandingo from the small kingdom of Kangaba, near the
present Mali-Guinea border. Little is known about his early life. Mandingo
oral traditions indicate that he was one of 12 royal brothers who were
heirs to the throne of Kangaba. When Sumanguru, ruler of the neighbouring
state of Kaniaga, overran Kangaba at the beginning of the 13th century,
he murdered all of Sundiata's brothers. According to tradition, Sundiata
was spared because he was a sickly boy who already appeared to be near
death.

It is believed that Sundiata was once a dugu-tigi, or headman, of one
of the villages of Kangaba. He organized a private army and consolidated
his position among his own people before challenging the power of Sumanguru
and the neighbouring Susu people. He defeated Sumanguru decisively in the
Battle of Kirina (near modern Koulikoro, Republic of Mali) c. 1235 and
succeeded in forcing the former tributary states of Kaniaga to recognize
his suzerainty. In 1240 Sundiata seized and razed Kumbi, the former capital
of the Sudanese empire of Ghana, and by this act succeeded in obliterating
the last symbol of Ghana's past imperial glory.

After 1240 Sundiata apparently led no further conquests but consolidated
his hold on the states already under his control. His generals, however,
continued to extend the boundaries of his empire to include areas as far
north as the southern fringes of the Sahara (including the important trade
centre of Walata), east to the Great Bend of the Niger River, south to
the goldfields of Wangara (the exact location is still unknown to scholars),
and west to the Senegal River.

Soon after 1240 Sundiata moved the seat of his empire from Jeriba to
Niani (also called Mali), near the confluence of the Niger and Sankarani
rivers. The lure of profits from the gold trade, made possible by Mali's
acquisition of Wangara, and the tranquillity that prevailed under Sundiata's
leadership attracted merchants and traders; Niani soon became a key commercial
centre in the Sudan.

Although Sundiata was nominally a Muslim and therefore acceptable to
the predominantly Muslim merchant class, he managed to retain his support
among the non-Muslim population. He did so by fulfilling many of the traditional
religious functions expected of rulers in the West African societies whose
political leaders were viewed as religious figures with quasi-divine powers.
Little is known about the actual administration of Mali during Sundiata's
time. The imperial system he established, however, survived the years of
internecine conflicts over the succession after his death.